Ragsdale recalled as ‘classy, caring’

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Friends of Kate Ragsdale describe her as a spirited woman who loved life and aspired to make the world better for others. Investigators are still searching for the unknown intruder who killed her at her home in The Highlands last week.

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

Friends of Kate Ragsdale describe her as a spirited woman who loved life and aspired to make the world better for others. Investigators are still searching for the unknown intruder who killed her at her home in The Highlands last week.Ragsdale, a mother and grandmother who celebrated her 73rd birthday on Jan. 28, was a visible and involved member of the Tuscaloosa community for decades. She worked for the University of Alabama and volunteered her time and energy for several civic organizations. Lynne McNair served on the West Alabama AIDS Outreach board with Ragsdale.“Kate was my hero. She was the most committed person I have ever known,” McNair said. “She embraced causes and people with an amazing warmth and compassion. She lived life on her terms. My pledge to her memory is to try to be more like her.”McNair’s husband once asked Ragsdale to join the newly formed Tuscaloosa Red Elephant Club, which supports UA’s football team. She declined, saying that she liked to spread her support and love for Alabama sports to all of the school’s programs. John Harris, who now lives in Atlanta, met Ragsdale at a fundraiser cocktail reception when he was a UA student in April 1994. During an hourlong chat, he mentioned that he never visited the library, where she worked. He kept his promise to stop by and say hello soon after.“The rest is history, and we formed an amazing friendship,” he said.Harris, now 47, often visited with Ragsdale at her home and would house-sit while she traveled. She encouraged him to hold his 30th birthday party there when she was out of town.“She told me to make sure I used the Rose Medallion china and the sterling coffee service. She had no fear that it would get broken, and she wanted it used and enjoyed,” he said.He recalls dancing with Ragsdale at different events and how she loved to have fun and laugh.“She helped guide me through some serious matters in life and encouraged me to build a relationship with my mother,” he said. “She was a dynamo, like the Energizer bunny, always on the go. I asked her once how she did it, how she stayed on the go so much and got up so early, at 5:30. ‘I’m living life to the fullest, you never know when it will be over. I can sleep when I’m gone,’ she said, and laughed again.”He said Ragsdale once told him that she wanted people to have a party to celebrate her life when she died.Steffen Guenzel, who now lives in Orlando, Fla. and works at the University of Central Florida, said that he spent a few hours in the college’s library to honor her after learning of her death Monday morning.He recalled how Ragsdale loved traveling, and said she loved to visit one of her two sons in the cities and villages of France, and later Dubai when he moved to the United Arab Emirates. Guenzel met Ragsdale when he joined the AIDS outreach board in 2000.“She enjoyed a good party as well as a symphony concert, contributed to charity events with time, talent and treasure. She was always graceful and open-minded” he said.Former AIDS outreach director Mona Ochoa-Horshok said that Ragsdale truly cared about the causes she supported.“Kate didn’t do this for the recognition or acclaim, she did it because she cared,” she said. “She was such a worker bee. She preferred working in the background, quietly supporting what she supported.”Ragsdale was often the first to finish the personalized letters outreach volunteers wrote to potential donors. She never skipped board meetings and always attended the annual Mardi Gras-themed Bal Masque ball and fundraiser.“She would always be there to show her support,” Ochoa-Horshok said. “I can see her sitting there in her black evening gown, so dignified and classy.”Randy Smith, a Tuscaloosa engineer, met Ragsdale about 25 years ago when he was in his late 20s. They were part of a group that often ate dinner together. He described her as someone he could depend on and who never seemed to have a bad day.“Sometimes months would go by and I wouldn’t talk to Kate. But when our paths would cross again, she could pick up our last conversation as if we had talked the day before. She was genuinely interested in what was going on in others’ lives.”Martha Still Rogers knew Ragsdale for more than 50 years. She said that they were UA faculty wives together, tennis players, tennis mothers, UA colleagues, board members and book-club friends.“During those years, we shared great fun, lots of laughs and a few trying times,” she said. “She strengthened me with her wisdom and her candor. Kate never let me down. I always knew that she had my back.”